Opening, closing and locking device

ABSTRACT

In a railroad car having sliding doors, a lock device including a hasp pivotally mounted on a first sliding door and a bell crank lever pivotally mounted on the second door with the lever pivotally carrying a wedge to wedgingly lock the hasp, lever and a keeper on the second door to keep the doors locked together, the bell crank lever having a drive arm releasably connecting with the hasp for moving the first door away from the second door when the locking wedge pin is removed from the door and the hasp in a freed position by a downward movement of the handle of the lever while at the same time freeing the lever held wedge.

United States Patent 1191 Bailey OPENING, CLOSING ANI) LOCKING DEVICE Inventor: John D. Bailey, Orland Park, Ill.

US. Cl. 292/283, 292/241 Int. Cl. E05c 19/08 Field of Search 292/241, 283, 284, 285, 286,

292/327, DIG. 32

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1966 Madland 292 327 x 8/1949 Ditchfield t 292/284 10/1939 Madland 292/283 UX "1111 3,791,688 1451 Feb. 12, 1974 Primary ExaminerMarvin A. Champion Assistant ExaminerRichard P. Tremblay Attorney, Agent, or FirmRichard J. Myers [5 7] ABSTRACT In a railroad car having sliding doors, a lock device including a hasp pivotally mounted on a first sliding door and a bell crank lever pivotally mounted on the second door with the lever pivotally carrying a wedge to wedgingly lock the hasp, lever and a keeper on the second door to keep the doors locked together, the bell crank lever having a drive arm releasably connecting with the hasp for moving the first door away from the second door when the locking wedge pin is removed from-the door and the hasp in a freed position by a downward movement of the handle of'the lever while at the same time freeing the lever held wedge.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures *l ll 64 3 OPENING, CLOSING AND LOCKING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention pertains to the field of railroad cars having sliding doors as, for instance, with railroad box cars and, in particular, deals with locking devices for holding the sliding doors together and releasing same as, for instance, seen by U. S. Pat. No. 3,596,959 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

2. Description of the Prior Art The prior art teaches the use of locking devices for the sliding doors of railroad box cars such as U. S. Pat. No. 2,788,995 but does not disclose a type of lock device which is designed to most effectively apply opening and closing forces on the lever working on the hasp or coupling link between the doors, and further a device where a locking wedge or pin is prevented from being lost. This is what the invention purports to do.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial view of the railroad car sliding doors in a closed locked position;

FIG. 2 is a partial view of the said doors in an unlocked unclosed position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken generally along line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken generally along line 4--4 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken generally along line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to lock devices for the sliding doors of railroad box cars. The invention is for the open and closing of the railroad car doors as well as for locking and unlocking of the doors where at least one of the doors is of the sliding type. A slotted bell crank lever drivingly cooperates with a pivotal slotted hasp to receive a locking wedge pin to insure positive locking and to retain the locking wedge pin when not in use. The invention therefore provides for a more effective application of forces on the operating lever in opening and closing the doors by movement of the hasp and prevents loss of the locking wedge pin in transit.

These and other objects will become more apparent from reference to the following description, appended claims and attached drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The lock mechanism for a sliding door assembly of a railroad car, as embodied in this invention, is of such construction to be utilizable for the double doors of a box car as well as for the single door of a box car. As seen from the drawings, the double doors of the box car comprise a first door 2 and a second door 4, these doors being mounted for sliding movement upon the side of the car. The door 2 is provided with a panel 6 and the door 4 is provided with a panel 8. The door 2 is provided with a seal structure 10 which intermeshes with the seal arrangement 12 of the door 4.

The opening, closing and locking device 13 of the instant invention comprises a hasp fastener or hinge member 14 which is held on the seal edge portion 10a of the door 2 by the fixed pin 16. The hinge 14 carries a pivot pin 18 to which is pivotally attached the hasp 20. Consequently, the hasp 20 is capable of pivoting toward and away from the door 2. The hasp 20 is generally a horizontally elongated member which is provided at its free .or non-pivoted end with an enlarged eye 22 and intermediate its end is provided with a slot or groove 24 which is provided with a sloped or biased edge26 and an upright or vertical edge 28. As viewed in FIG. 4, the has'p slot 24 is generally rectangular in shape. The locking device 13 further comprises a lock or guide bracket 30 which is mounted on backing plate 32 mounted on the door 4. The lock or guide bracket 30 is provided with a wedge or locking pin receiving slot 34 as seen, for instance, in partial sectional view FIG. 5. The lock bracket 30 is adapted to receive through its slot 34 the wedge or locking pin 36 which also is receivable in the slot 24 of the hasp (see FIG. 1). The pin 36 includes an elongated flat plate portion 38 that is wedge-shaped or having downwardly sloping sides 40, 42, the plate portion having at its lower end a catch pin 44 to prevent removal of the wedge pin 36 and at its upper end an elongated horizontal top end part 46 which limits downward movement of the pin 36. The wedge-shaped sides 40 and 42 conform gener ally to the slot sides 26, 28 with the side 40 being tapered while the side 42 is more vertical when the pin is inserted in upright position into the slot 24. The lower portion of the pin is held in its position within the slot 24 by the lower guide bracket 30 which has an open slot 35 to allow passage of the pin 44 therethrough, as best seen in FIG. 1.

The opening and closing lever 48 carries the locking pin 36 by means of the U-shaped bracket or wedge carrier or ring 50 in the forward end of the lever. The ring portion 50 is defined by the wedge receiving slot 52. The lever 48 further includes, at the end opposite the ring portion 50, a handle 54. The central part of the lever defines a bell crank portion 56 which includes a pivot portion 58 pivotally mounted on pin 60 mounted on the backing plate 32 for allowing the handle to fulcrum about such pin 60. The lower end of the bell crank portion 56 is provided with a downwardly projecting head portion 62 which is provided with a drive arm or pin 64 which includes a shaft portion 66 and an enlarged head portion 68 that extends through the circular opening or enlarged eye 22 of the hasp 20. The shaft portion 66 and head portion 68 are smaller in size than the respective eyelet portions 22a and 22b of the eye 22 so that the hasp 20 may be pivoted about hinge pin 18 away from the backing plate 32 and the drive arm 64 when the wedge pin 36 has been removed.

The lock device 13 is shown in solid line in FIG. 1 in the locked position holding the first and second doors together in the locked sealed condition. In this locked condition the locking device has its hasp member against the outside of the door 4 and the eye 22 of the hasp is over the drive arm 64 of the operating lever 48 which has its arm or handle 54 in the horizontal position. The wedge element 36 of the locking device is inserted through the ring portion 50 of the operating lever 48 and is also inserted through the slot 24 in the hasp 20 and is also extending through the lock or guide bracket 30 mounted on the back plate 32. In order to unlock the doors the wedge pin 34 must first be raised upwardly as shown in dotted line in FIG. 1 and then the handle of the lever 48 is pulled downwardly (see FIG.2) which causes the bell crank portion 56 to move the hasp 20 to the right with consequent separation of the door 2 from the door 4 and thereby opening the doors. Then the hasp eye 22 may be pivoted away from the pin 64 for further separation of the doors. in order to lock the doors, the procedure is reversed. The downwardly extending bell crank portion 56 and the handle 54 provide an advantageous force lever arrangement which allows the operator to exert his weight downwardly to force open the doors. The ring portion 50 not only carries the wedge 36 but assists in prying the wedge loose from its connection with the hasp and also acts as a keeper element with the wedge keeper surfaces 26 and 28 of the slot 24 and the keeper or guide bracket 30 to present a unique and effective locking device. By applying a downward force on the top 46 of the pin 36 it is wedged effectively between the surfaces 26 and 28 of the groove 24 to prevent removal of the pin from its engaged locked position.

The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate the invention and the invention is not limited thereto, except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, as those skilled in the art who have the disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sliding door assembly for railroad cars a locking device comprising:

a hasp pivoted on one movable door having a free end with a lever drive arm receiving eye therein extendable over the other door,

a bell crank lever spaced vertically from the hasp and pivotally mounted on the other door and having a lever arm carrying a drive arm releasably coupling with the eye,

said hasp having a vertically extending wedge receiving slot spaced between the eye and the pivotal end of the hasp,

said lever having at a first end adjacent the one door a pin carrying portion,

a wedge receiving slotted keeper on the other door below the hasp slot and a wedge pin carried by the lever pin carrying portion and extending therethrough and extendable through the slot and the keeper, the pin carrying portion and the slot and the keeper coacting to entrap and hold the wedge pin in the door locked position of the locking device, and

handle means on a second end of said lever generally horizontally spaced from the first end and, after removal of the wedge pin from the hasp, said handle means being movable to operate the hasp for opening the one door pursuant to placing the locking device in the door unlocked position.

2. The invention according to claim 1, and

said lever arm extending downward below the pivotal connection with the other door and the pin carrying portion being extendable above the hasp over the slot.

3. The invention according to claim 1, and

means on the upper and lower end of the wedge pin cooperative with the pin carrying portion loosely entrapping the wedge pin on the pin carrying portion for movement thereabout.

4. The invention according to claim 1, and

said wedge pin having a sloping side and a vertical side and said hasp slot having complemental sloped and vertical sides for said wedge pin to accommodate a wedging action of said wedge pin.

5. In a sliding door assembly for railroad cars a looking device comprising:

a hasp pivoted on one movable door having a free end with a lever drive arm receiving eye therein extendable over the other door,

a bell crank lever spaced above the hasp and pivotally mounted on the other door and having a lever arm extending downward below the pivotal con nection with the other door, the lever arm carrying a drive arm releasably coupling with the eye,

said hasp having a vertically extending wedge receiving slot spaced between the eye and the pivotal end of the hasp,

said lever having at a first end adjacent the one door a pin carrying portion extendable above the hasp over the slot,

a wedge receiving slotted keeper on the other door below the hasp slot and a wedge pin carried by the lever pin carrying portion and extending therethrough and extentable through the slot and the keeper, the pin carrying portion and the slot and the keeper coacting to entrap and hold the wedge pin in the door locked position of the locking device, and

handle means on a second end of said lever generally horizontally spaced from the first end and, after removal of the wedge pin from the hasp, said handle means being movable to operate the hasp for opening the one door pursuant to placing the locking device in the door unlocked position. 

1. In a sliding door assembly for railroad cars a locking device comprising: a hasp pivoted on one movable door having a free end with a lever drive arm receiving eye therein extendable over the other door, a bell crank lever spaced vertically from the hasp and pivotally mounted on the other door and having a lever arm carrying a drive arm releasably coupling with the eye, said hasp having a vertically extending wedge receiving slot spaced between the eye and the pivotal end of the hasp, said lever having at a first end adjacent the one door a pin carrying portion, a wedge receiving slotted keeper on the other door below the hasp slot and a wedge pin carried by the lever pin carrying portion and extending therethrough and extendable through the slot and the keeper, the pin carrying portion and the slot and the keeper coacting to entrap and hold the wedge pin in the door locked position of the locking device, and handle means on a second end of said lever generally horizontally spaced from the first end and, after removal of the wedge pin from the hasp, said handle means being movable to operate the hasp for opening the one door pursuant to placing the locking device in the door unlocked position.
 2. The invention according to claim 1, and said lever arm extending downward below the pivotal connection with the other door and the pin carrying portion being extendable above the hasp over the slot.
 3. The invention according to claim 1, and means on the upper and lower end of the wedge pin cooperative with the pin carrying portion loosely entrapping the wedge pin on the pin carrying portion for movement thereabout.
 4. The invention according to claim 1, and said wedge pin having a sloping side and a vertical side and said hasp slot having complemental sloped and vertical sides for said wedge pin to accommodate a wedging action of said wedge pin.
 5. In a sliding door assembly for railroad cars a locking device comprising: a hasp pivoted on one movable door having a free end with a lever drive arm receiving eye therein extendable over the other door, a bell crank lever spaced above the hasp and pivotally mounted on the other door and having a lever arm extending downward below the pivotal connection with the other door, the lever arm carrying a drive arm releasably coupling with the eye, said hasp having a vertically extending wedge receiving slot spaced between the eye and the pivotal end of the hasp, said lever having at a first end adjacent the one door a pin carrying portion extendable above the hasp over the slot, a wedge receiving slotted keeper on the other door below the hasp slot and a wedge pin carried by the lever pin carrying portion and extending therethrough and extentable through the slot and the keeper, the pin carrying portion and the slot and the keeper coacting to entrap and hold the wedge pin in the door locked position of the locking device, and handle means on a second end of said lever generally horizontally spaced from the first end and, after removal of the wedge pin from the hasp, said handle means being movable to operate the hasp for opening the one door pursuant to placing the locking device in the door unlocked position. 